Catie Edmondson

Yeah, that's exactly right.

Yeah, that's exactly right.

I mean, look, over the past seven years I've been up on the Hill, I've written a lot about sort of the two foreign policy wings of the Republican Party, sort of the traditional Mitch McConnell interventionist wing. And sort of the, at the time, ascendant sort of, they call themselves realists, restrainers, people who did not want to send sort of U.S. treasure, U.S. troops abroad.

I mean, look, over the past seven years I've been up on the Hill, I've written a lot about sort of the two foreign policy wings of the Republican Party, sort of the traditional Mitch McConnell interventionist wing. And sort of the, at the time, ascendant sort of, they call themselves realists, restrainers, people who did not want to send sort of U.S. treasure, U.S. troops abroad.

And I think what we've seen over the past couple of weeks, at least when it comes to Republicans in Congress, is that that's not really a battle anymore. And that it's over. The anti-interventionists have won. They occupy positions of power in Republican leadership on the Hill. They occupy positions of power within the Pentagon. And so I think Zelensky knows that, right?

And I think what we've seen over the past couple of weeks, at least when it comes to Republicans in Congress, is that that's not really a battle anymore. And that it's over. The anti-interventionists have won. They occupy positions of power in Republican leadership on the Hill. They occupy positions of power within the Pentagon. And so I think Zelensky knows that, right?

He knows that he's not going to get any more aid from Congress. And so he has to make a deal with President Trump.

He knows that he's not going to get any more aid from Congress. And so he has to make a deal with President Trump.

Well, I think today's ceremony really underscored what is supposed to be the pro forma nature of the January 6th congressional counting of electoral votes. This is a performative ritual in which Congress counts the electoral votes from each state and certifies the election of whoever won the presidency.

Well, I think today's ceremony really underscored what is supposed to be the pro forma nature of the January 6th congressional counting of electoral votes. This is a performative ritual in which Congress counts the electoral votes from each state and certifies the election of whoever won the presidency.

Obviously, if your first introduction to this ceremony was four years ago, you had a very different view of what happened on that day. Indeed. And so today's counting of electoral votes really was what was supposed to happen.

Obviously, if your first introduction to this ceremony was four years ago, you had a very different view of what happened on that day. Indeed. And so today's counting of electoral votes really was what was supposed to happen.

You had Vice President Kamala Harris overseeing the entire ceremony, overseeing essentially Congress certifying her own loss.

You had Vice President Kamala Harris overseeing the entire ceremony, overseeing essentially Congress certifying her own loss.

And you had a pretty stark scene, I think, in which she's standing there sort of staring straight ahead as one by one lawmakers stand up and they are announcing the states that she won as a presidential candidate, but they're also announcing the states that she lost.

And you had a pretty stark scene, I think, in which she's standing there sort of staring straight ahead as one by one lawmakers stand up and they are announcing the states that she won as a presidential candidate, but they're also announcing the states that she lost.

And so as we go through the roll call of states, not only are we reliving sort of the calls on election night, but Harris is reliving it too.

And so as we go through the roll call of states, not only are we reliving sort of the calls on election night, but Harris is reliving it too.

And at the end of this entire process, it falls to her to be the one to say that Trump was the candidate who won the electoral votes to win the presidency. Thank you very much.

And at the end of this entire process, it falls to her to be the one to say that Trump was the candidate who won the electoral votes to win the presidency. Thank you very much.